Chapter 234
July 23, 1892. | 27 Stat., 260.

An act to amend sections twenty-one hundred and thirty-nine, twenty-one hundred and forty, and twenty-one hundred and forty-one a of the Revised Statutes touching the sale of intoxicants in the Indian country, and for other purposes.

aThis act amends only Revised Statutes 2139, not 2140, 2141. See 1884, July 4, chapter 180, ante, page 31. As to jurisdiction of courts in Indian Territory, see 1889, March 1, chapter 333, ante, page 39.

Be it enacted, &c.,That section twenty-one hundred and thirty-nine of the Revised Statutes be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

SEC. 2139

No ardent spirits, ale, beer, wine, or intoxicating liquor or liquors of whatever kind shall be introduced, under any pretense, into the Indian country.

Every person who sells, exchanges, gives, barters, or disposes of any ardent spirits, ale, beer, wine, or intoxicating liquors of any kind to any Indian under charge of any Indian superintendent or agent, or introduces or attempts to introduce any ardent spirits, ale, wine, beer, or intoxicating liquor of any kind into the Indian country shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than two years, and by fine of not more than three hundred dollars for each offense.

But it shall be a sufficient defense to any charge of introducing or attempting to introduce ardent spirits, ale, beer, wine, or intoxicating liquors into the Indian country that the acts charged were done under authority in writing from the War Department, or any officer duly authorized thereunto by the War Department.

All complaints for the arrest of any person or persons made for violation of any of the provisions of this act shall be made in the county where the offense shall have been committed, or if committed upon or within any reservation not included in any county, then in any county adjoining such reservation, and, if in the Indian Territory, before the United States court commissioner, or commissioner of the circuit court of the United States residing nearest the place where the offense was committed, who is not for any reason disqualified; but in all cases such arrests shall be made before any United States court commissioner residing in such adjoining county, or before any magistrate or judicial officer authorized by the laws of the State in which such reservation is located to issue warrants for the arrest and examination of offenders by section ten hundred and fourteen of the Revised Statutes of the United States.

And all persons so arrested shall, unless discharged upon examination, be held to answer and stand trial before the court of the United States having jurisdiction of the offense. [July 23, 1892.]